News from 2012

The Clean Clothes Campaign today express their shock and outrage at the failure of German company KIK to ensure that workers in its supplier factories are employed in safe working conditions after it was confirmed that Ali Enterprises, which last week burnt down killing almost 300 people, was producing jeans for the low-cost retailer.

Information emerging from Pakistan today suggests that the Ali Enterprise factory in Karachi, which burned down on Tuesday killing over 300 workers, was supplying goods to the European market. The Clean Clothes Campaign is now calling on all brands and retailers sourcing from Karachi to undertake immediate reviews of all their suppliers.

On Monday campaigners in Germany, the UK and the US handed over a petition to adidas demanding overdue severance pay for 2,800 Indonesian garment workers. In total 1.5 million is illegally withheld from the workers, which is less than two per cent of the cost of adidas Olympic sponsorship.

On 19 September the Thai Criminal Court will announce the date of the verdict of Somyot Prueksakasemsuk, well known editor and long time labour rights activist in Thailand. He can face 30 years in prison. We need your voice again, so let it be loud!

An offer by adidas to donate food vouchers to Indonesian workers owed millions of euros has been described as downright insulting by union representatives and labour right campaigners. The workers, previously employed at ex-addidas supplier PT Kizone, have been fighting for over a year to get adidas to pay the 1.5 million euros still owed to them in unpaid severance. Adidas' offer: a food voucher worth just 43 euros.

For the first time, migrant workers in the Mae Sot area successfully demanded wages in accordance with the new legal minimum wage. Factory owner M Apparel (one of Lee's suppliers) gave into the demand of 323 (mostly female) workers after negotiations with the workers who received support of MAP foundation and Yaung Chi Oo Worker Association.

On 11th June, to coincide with the Euro 2012 football tournament, which is sponsored by adidas, dozens of PT Kizone workers and their supporters held a march in Jakarta calling on adidas to pay the $1.8 million dollars owned to them in severance pay.

Li & Fung, one of the largest apparel sourcing companies in the world, is refusing to pay 2.038 Hey Tekstil workers in Turkey 4.7 million EUR of overdue wages, severance, and notification payments.
The conflict began in February 2012 when the last 420 of 3.000 workers from the Turkish apparel company Hey Tekstil Sanayi ve Ticaret L.Ş. were fired from the company’s Istanbul factory without notice. The workers got organized and decided to take action. At the time of the closure, workers were producing clothes for such brands as Esprit and Disney, which placed their orders through Li & Fung. For the last two years, Li & Fung had 80-90% of the production at Hey Tekstil factories, according to former Hey Tekstil representatives.

We urge you to support 420 struggling workers in Turkey who have been staging a picket line in front of Li & Fung for three months.
These workers were employed by a company called Hey Tekstil. From November 2011 to February 2012, the company did not pay them for their last three months of work, fired them without notice, and subsequently failed to pay them their legally-mandated severance and notification payments.

Summer is almost here and with it the Olympic Games in London. The Olympics Games aims to “build a better world through sport” and promotes values of fair play, respect and equality Unfair play, disrespect and inequality aren’t values we usually associate with the Olympics. But for some workers making Olympic goods and sportswear, this is what the Olympic ideal really means.

2,800 workers formerly employed at the Indonesian sportswear manufacture, PT Kizone have now been fighting for over a year to get severance owed to them following the closure of the factory and the abscondment of its owner.

Workers making Olympic sportswear for London 2012 for top brands and high street names including Adidas and Next are being paid poverty wages, forced to work excessive overtime and threatened with instant dismissal if they complain about working conditions, according to a new report from the Playfair 2012 campaign published today.

Aminul Islam, a Bangladeshi labor rights activist and former apparel worker was tortured and murdered last week in Dhaka. His body was dumped outside of the capital city and was found by local police last Thursday. According to the police report, Aminul Islam's body bore signs of brutal torture. It is most likely that Aminul was murdered because of his labour rights work.

New research shows that sandblasting continues in high street production. A new report, Deadly Denim, released by the Clean Clothes Campaign, found that large factories exporting jeans overseas continue to use sandblasting.